ITV

Tag: Elite Panel

  • Ratings: Star Movies tops English film genre despite absence in Mumbai

    Ratings: Star Movies tops English film genre despite absence in Mumbai

    MUMBAI: With Cas having come into the Metros, the niche channels will have a better fix on what the audience prefers. Tam data for the last six months paints an interesting picture of what the viewers are likely to go in for.

    Tam data c&s 15+ all India shows that in the English film genre Star Movies has a clear lead. In fact it has widened the gap between itself and arch rival HBO. This, one must note, is despite the fact that it is not present in Mumbai which each week contributes an average of 15 per cent to the viewing of this genre.

    ENGLISH
    MOVIES
    – TG: CS
    15 years     		15 JULY-15 AUG 15 AUG-15 SEP 15 SEP -15 OCT 15 OCT-15 NOV 15 NOV-15 DEC 15 DEC-30 DEC 01 JAN – 13 JAN 07
    Hallmark
    Channel    		 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
    HBO 38 33 33 32 33 35 33
    PIX 9 10 8 9 8 9 9
    Star Movies 42 40 44 45 47 41 49
    Zee Studio 11 17 16 14 13 15 9

    For the period 15 July – 15 August 2006 Star Movies had a share of 42 per cent followed by HBO with a share of 38 per cent. Zee Studio has a share of 11 per cent and Pix which had recently launched had a share of nine per cent. For the period 1-13 January 2007 Star Movies boosted its share to 49 per cent compared to 41 per cent in the last two weeks of December.

    Star Movies’ gain in January is Zee Studio’s loss which shows that there is some overlap despite the fact that while the former focusses on blockbusters the latter focusses on niche films. In fact Zee Studio has recently been doing initiatives on world cinema. Zee Studio’s share fell from 15 per cent in the last fortnight of December to 9 per cent bringing it on level terms with Pix. HBO’s share fell by four to five percentage points in August but has since stayed steady at 33 per cent.

    Star India GM content Harsh Rohatgi gives the credit for Star Movies’ leadership position to the compelling movie library it has. “Even if you look at the Metro market to which Mumbai contributes 35 per cent viewership we are still ahead. We have done initiatives like a Bond festival, creature festival.

    “Mind you Star Movies in the past six months did not do anything special in terms of marketing besides on-air promotions. So the content sold itself. We are doing an Oscar festival at the moment. Our clients have supported us despite concern about Mumbai. We expect to be back on air within the next one week to 10 days.”

    As had been pointed out earlier, HBO’s main concern now is to ensure that it is in the priority list of channels in homes which are getting the set top box. So it ran a campaign last month educating people on what the channel is offering. Its message for this year is Bigger and Better.

    The challenge, Shruti Bajpai, country manager, HBO, notes, comes not only from more television competition but also from outside in the form of multiplexes, gaming etc. As Tam CEO L.V. Krishnan had pointed out in a recent interview, in the Elite group which comprise the bulk of the English film channels audience, the more technology options there are for entertainment like the DVD, the more their viewing of television drops.

    So there is all the more reason for this genre to be on its toes as its core audience will become even more choosy. Bajpai is counting on the strength of the HBO brand which has been built over the years to see it through this period of change. Going forward for this year it will try to build up the non primetime block through slots like It’s A Guy Thing for men. Last year HBO built on its thematic, festive blocks. So there was a full one month special for Diwali which had different themes depending on the daypart.

    This year HBO, Bajpai notes, has upped the marketing ante. A case in point is what was done with King Kong where there was radio, online and an outdoor presence. “It is not a question of having a huge budget. It is a question of optimising the different avenues which is what we have been able to do. The reason why we have not fallen in share despite not being present in Mumbai for a while is that the mini Metros are growing. They are hip and happening and you are getting viewership from a place where there was none earlier.”

    Media planners feel that each channel has its own USP. As Starcom’s Rahul Panchal points out, “Pix has its USP in that it targets an older set of viewers 25+. HBO on the other hand has a lot of teens tuning in which is why it has blocks for that set. Therefore there will be some difference in the brand profile.

    “Brand saliency is also what one looks at vis-a-vis just numbers. Pix and Zee Studio offer an environment that is less cluttered. They are also more flexible on the rates. Therefore though I put money on the two leaders (Star Movies and HBO) I would not ignore the other two players.”

    Panchal adds that Star Movies’ distribution in the small towns is probably better in terms of the frequency it is on. Clearly it’s gain there has more than offset the loss of Mumbai. One also has to consider the fact that with Cas coming in, putting in money will not be such a gray area.

    There will be better clarity also with Tam having launched its Elite Panel. Media planners also point out that in English films there is better stickiness compared to say, general entertainment. If someone likes a film he/she will stay with it. The question now is whether viewers will choose a channel like Pix when there are three competing channels.

    Pix business head Sunder Aaron says that Pix has carved a niche space which has been due to films being carefully chosen. “We have built up our programming by focussing on slots like 8 pm and 10 pm. Our stance has been that of telling a good story. Viewers who see value in this will, I am confident, choose us in their basket. To add variety we have also done original content like Framed, which saw director Aparna Sen being interviewed. We will be doing audience research this year to find out more in terms of preferences. We are doing a marketing campaign in Bangalore as we felt we needed to boost our visibility there.”

  • ‘You cannot build a sample on psychographics’ : LV Krishnan – TAM India CEO

    ‘You cannot build a sample on psychographics’ : LV Krishnan – TAM India CEO

    Media research agency Tam is in an expansion mode. Recently, it increased the number of peoplemeters from 4800 to 6917. And as direct-to-home (DTH) and conditional access system (Cas) took root, it also came out with the Elite Panel. The aim: to give broadCasters and media planners an idea of what the cr?me de la cr?me consume.

     

    Indiantelevision.com’s Ashwin Pinto caught up with Tam India CEO LV Krishnan to find out how the agency is gearing up to meet the challenges that new distribution technologies are throwing up.

     

    Excerpts:

    With conditional access system (Cas) and direct-to-home (DTH) taking root, what is Tam’s strategy going to be?

    We expected digitisation to happen sooner or later. We have been getting ready for it since a year. In April 2006 we released our first study under the Blinx series where we had the first DTH penetration data coming out. We also did a multi-city study on what was happening on Cas. We looked at the international availability of technology that could be used to measure these two platforms.

     

    We began work on the digital peoplemeter which we call the TVM5. Today all the six metros are completely aligned to the TVM5 digital peoplemeter. The peoplemeters are technologically hybrid. This was stage one done last year. We expanded the panel two weeks back and introduced the Elite Panel. After that, quite a large number of homes in the Elite Panel have moved onto DTH. In the regular panel a significant amount of homes are converted to Cas.

     

    This is clubbed with the C&S (cable & satellite) data and sent to the industry for usage. While this happens and the market moves from analogue to digital, there is growth in DTH and Cas for both panels. To validate this we are doing a regular penetration study. The data for this month will be out shortly. We will do studies in February and March to find out DTH and Cas penetration in the notified areas. It will be matched with our Elite Panel penetration also to see if it matches with those kinds of homes. Then data will go out to the user.

    Will Cas or DTH prevail and why?

    It is difficult to say which one will succeed. Each has advantages. Finally it is the service ability that counts. The demand is there. Pricing is important.

     

    Then there is the marketing activities done. Feedback is that demand for set top boxes is rising dramatically. But the service ability is the need of the hour. This is preventing more penetration.

    Tam has also increased the number of Peoplemeters and coverage area. Could you talk about this?

    We have been working with the joint industry body (JIB) for the last year and a half to look at the next step. Hence the decision to go to 7000 peoplemeters.

     

    Three things prompted the expansion. Firstly the universe has changed since the last expansion that happened in 2002 – 2003. The number of C&S homes has increased. New towns have been added on different strata of the population. The second reason is the sheer amount of fragmentation that is happening. With the number of channels available, TV viewing has become more fragmented. To look at data from specific segments of the population you need to go deeper. The Hindi speaking markets which is the North and West is where the bulk of the new metering has been done.

     

    In the South, the time spent on viewing is higher in proportion to the number of TV homes present. More samples have been added there. Then we wanted to plan for the future with new platforms coming in. You will see further fragmentation with DTH and Cas arriving. IPTV is also soon to launch. We wanted to be ready for this change.

    How much has Tam invested and what have the challenges been?

    The expansion has taken 10 months of work. We started last February. We moved from 73 towns to 151. We brought in the digital peoplemeters. At the same time we needed to ensure that the homes are counseled to deliver quality research. It has been great working along with the industry. Over Rs 250 million has gone into the expansion.

    Why did it take it so much time to expand?

    We touched 4800 in 2003. In 2004 there was no establishment study. We had to wait for 2005 to see the kind of growth rates that have happened. When we got NRS 2005 there was also census data for 2001 which came out in 2005. That data came to us in the second half of 2005.
    ‘We are examining the possibility of expanding the Elite Panel to other markets like Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata‘

    How do you choose the homes and how is user compliance ensured?

    The homes are chosen on the basis of key control variables divided into primary and secondary variables. The former are socio economic classes, the ability to watch C&S or terrestrial television. Number of home members is another variable. Apart from that, secondary variables include ratio of colour to black and white TV sets. In 2007 we have added a new variable, which is the presence of kids. A metric is used to gauge the compliance of a home to the peoplemeter which is button pushing. So we do surprise checks with these homes. Once we are sure that they are stable we add them to the reporting data.

    Rival ratings service aMap talks about the importance of pyschographic profiling and that 25+ SEC A is not enough if you want to know what for instance an executive consumes. Your views on this?

    You can include additional variables. However a panel needs to be put on strong foundation stones. They have to be stable over a period of time. Then you look at SEC, cable and satellite or terrestrial. Pyschographic variables are ever changing in nature. You cannot build a sample on psychographics. If you list pyschographic variables, which could be 100, you diminish your sample to miniature levels.

     

    You cannot have attitudinal factors being linked to viewing behaviour patterns. Attitudinal factors can be included in one off studies. But to expect a panel to give you solutions for every little thing will not be possible. A panel is supposed to give continuous behaviour changes so that you can do projections for the future based on past behaviour.

     

    In a dynamic market you have a cable operator changing the channel line-up, marketing etc. If you can pick up these changes and tie it to the numbers you can make better sense of the data rather than try to report things based on things that are affected by changing attitudes. It is important to have data that gives a clear picture of the changing marketplace rather than have a variable that is there for the sake of it.

    How has the channel standings been affected by the expansion of the panel?

    In general the expanded panel has come in with Cas implementation. Pay channels have taken a hit in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. But the figures will improve as homes move to Cas or DTH. Distribution is key in the towns. Also when you geographically expand your ratings presence you see a difference in terms of power cuts. This environmental factor also affects channel shares. A strong distribution of channels in smaller towns will mean that share is not affected.

     

    Regional channels share has gone up. So has news. The free to air channels are also faring better. The mainline channels continue to stay strong. Certainly there is more fragmentation. Music and the English entertainment channels are stagnating. This has to do with content along with marketing. Colour TV sets have jumped to 70 per cent in the C&S homes. Remote control penetration has also grown. There is faster surfing and more sampling. The ad rate viewership is slipping vis-?-vis programme viewership. There is a 20 per cent difference. News has eaten into the share of GEC.

    What findings has the Elite Panel thrown up?

    The elite segment spends a limited amount of time on television. It is around an hour and a half each day compared to two hours and 10 minutes for the general panel. For those who own a DVD player it goes down further to around an hour and 10 minutes. The more the leisure opportunities present, the less he/she watches television. They are extremely choosy. What is interesting is that although the main language of 45 per cent of the Elite Panel is English, the time spent on watching Hindi content is more watched. English entertainment needs to touch the heart of the consumer better.

     

    It is clear that the members of the Elite Panel do not approve of the quality of content on the English entertainment channels, which is one reason why they are not spending much time watching television. They are basically surfing through the English channels and then going back to the Hindi shows. The English channels need to understand what the viewer requires. The elite segment represents an opportunity.

    Can you highlight any other findings that emerged from the Elite Panel?

    Firstly we need to segment general entertainment into two parts. One is soaps and the other is reality shows. The former is consumed by the housewife while the latter is consumed by the youth. On a national scale you have one TV set homes mostly. But in the Elite Panel there are multiple TV set homes. So while the overall numbers are the same when you break it down into soaps and reality shows the viewing is split evenly in the Elite Panel. This means that the second TV set is being used to watch reality shows by the younger members. This gives channels an idea of the kind of shows that can be created for the Elite versus what is being done for the rest of the country.

     

    The Elite segment has nuclear families with bigger homes. There are two kinds of homes. One is executive which has lesser kid’s, while some of them are Dink (double income no kid’s) homes. The business family is larger. The day parts both watch are different as also is the content.

     

    Another difference is the behaviour of this audience towards weekends. In a national panel time spent declines. Here it goes up. News is watched a lot. Sports viewing depends on the significance of an event. It needs to be interesting. They will watch an event whether it is cricket or tennis or Formula one if the match is interesting. Schumacher’s last Grand Prix touched a rating of over three in the Elite Panel while in the national panel it was 0.22. Viewing of sports depends more on the quality of the match rather than on the tournament per se. Kids and movies fare better on the Elite Panel.

    What has the media feedback been like for this service?

    It has been good. We are examining the possibility of expanding it to other markets like Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata. It has been two years since we started work on the panel. The challenge was to keep the panel intact. We have 125 homes in Delhi and 125 homes in Mumbai.

     

    Technologically we had to make sure that data could be downloaded which is not easy given that the telecom infrastructure is already overloaded. We did special techniques to recruit homes. We spoke to them in terms of what we are trying to do. We had trained people visiting the homes with laptops.

    Can sports viewing for non-cricket grow?

    There are some learnings from cricket. Firstly you need star appeal. Would you watch cricket without Sachin, Saurav, Dravid and Dhoni?

     

    Secondly media coverage is crucial. The reason why the soccer World Cup last year fared so well was due to the enormous coverage and hype in the media particularly in newspapers. Then there needs to be drama. Cricket has controversy, which creates aura. For instance Saurav coming back sparked debate.

    What is your outlook for radio this year?

    We have expanded our measuring to 32 stations now for AdEx. Earlier it was 13 stations. We are seeing radio ad expenditure growing.
  • Tam increases number of peoplemeters to 6917

    Tam increases number of peoplemeters to 6917

    MUMBAI: Ratings measurement service Tam is in expansion mode. Earlier this month it came out with an Elite Panel for Mumbai and Delhi. The aim is to measure what the creme de la creme consume.

    Now it has increased the number of peoplemeters in the country. The number of meters have been increased from 4800 to 6917, a 44 per cent rise. The aim is to deepen the coverage to more towns.

    This Peoplemeter Update marks the second stage of the TAM expansion project. The first stage was executed to broaden the coverage from 5 states to 12 states but within the existing reporting stratum (0.1 Mn+ population stratum). The second stage is to deepen the coverage to more towns within the less than 0.1Mn+ stratum for all markets covered in stage 1.

    This expansion marks the conclusion of the second step of the entire expansion plan.

    In addition, improvements have been made in the design to take into account the changing demographic and media landscape that results in a higher precision of the viewership estimates.

    The number of cities Tam covers has grown from 73 to 151. In terms of expansion in the Metros are as follows: while earlier there were 450 homes measured in Mumbai now there are 495; in Kolkata the number has risen to 330 from 265. In Delhi it has risen from 425 to 470; in Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad it has grown from 255 homes in each of them to 280.

    In terms of how the sample sizes across markets were determined, Tam India CEO LV Krishnan says, “A range of factors influence the sample size allocation of the overall sample across markets. These include the desired depth of analysis, availability of sufficient sample sizes for commonly analysed target groups and a desired level of statistical precision.

    “While markets are analysed by two strata (1 million+ and 0.1 – 1 million) for sampling purposes the 0.1-1 million is broken into 0.1-0.5 mn and 0.5 mn – 1 mn. For the expansion, the 0.1-0.5 mn was broken up further into 0.1-0.2 mn and 0.2-0.5 mn.”

    In terms of the SEC distribution, 33 per cent of the sample homes measured in Delhi are SEC A. In Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai it is 25 per cent. The representation of SEC D and E is highest in Mumbai and Kolkata at 32 per cent. At an all India level it is 28 per cent for SEC D and E. SEC A and B have a 25 per cent representation each. SEC C has a 21 per cent representation.

    The presence of children was included as a new control parameter for the expansion. This paramater, Tam says, ensures that the proportion of homes in the sample with kids 4-9 years and 10-14 years matches that of the universe. In terms of new markets being introduced in the new Tam panel data, two changes have been seen at a market level.

    Firstly West Bengal 1mn+ is a new market strata that has emerged due to towns moving up to the 1mn+ population bracket. Then Rajasthan, which was earlier reported as Rajasthan 0.1mn+, has now split into a two market strata i.e. Rajasthan 1mn+ and Rajasthan 0.1-1 mn.

  • Tam’s Elite Panel data goes live

    Tam’s Elite Panel data goes live

    MUMBAI: It has taken quite a while but media research agency Tam has finally got its Elite Panel up and running.

    This latest value addition for the Indian TV industry will measure the TV viewership behaviour of the crème de la crème of the Mumbai and Delhi population.

    An Elite Household in the panel is defined as one which is SEC A1 owning AC & PC & Car.

    Tam’s Elite Panel is a mix of cable, DTH and Cas homes. The Indian Elite Panel captures the nuances of TV Viewing among the top three per cent of the Socio-Economic strata in Mumbai and Delhi. Tam Media Research CEO LV Krishnan says, “Across the globe, all Elite consumer media studies are recall based survey measurements. Very few attempts have been made to measure this exclusive set of consumers through a continuous panel based method. Tam’s Elite Panel is the world’s first such study to understand Elite consumers’ TV viewing habits.”

    “At this moment of time, I would like to thank every senior member of our industry who gave us a patient hearing, offered us valuable suggestions and stood the test of time to finally see the industry project through. What I am even more pleased about is that, throughout the two years it took us to implement the industry proposal, Tam received support from all constituents of the industry.

    The key question is how is this development viewed by the industry. Star India president, ad sales and distribution, Paritosh Joshi says that while he has not yet seen the numbers, in principle the Elite Panel together with Cas represents a strong plus for channels like Star Movies and Star World that target the affluent segment. “They will be able to offer more demonstrable numbers to clients. More and more brands that target the upmarket audience from sectors like hospitality, finance, automobiles, apparel and lifestyle are looking for the right media vehicles. This development will allow them to do that.”

    Zee Network’s ad sales head Joy Chakraborthy feels that the introduction of the Elite Panel is better late than never. “It is not fair that unique channels are measured in the same way as the general entertainment channels. That situation will change. So far unique channels have been bought on the basis of perception rather than on reality. It was a case of ‘if I am watching it then others must also be watching it’ scenario. This issue will now get addressed. We are still examining the data though, as we only just got it.”

    On the media side Starcom’s Manish Porwal was happy that the long awaited development had finally happened. “While we will wait and see how it fares in terms of consistency, the fact that it has happened is good news for the niche channels who will now get better exposure. Their representation earlier was small. It certainly allows us to look at the niche English genre with finer lenses and also allows us to better qualify the upmarket audience segment.”

    Spatial Access’ Meenakshi Madhvani says that so far the television ratings system has basically catered to the lowest common denominator i.e. the masses. Now though, one will hopefully get a better idea of what the small in number but important affluent consumers are watching. “It will allow us to get a better fix on the affluent viewers. Also the disadvantage that the niche channels had in terms of not having the numbers to show will not be there.”

    One of the additional USPs of the panel is that it has deployed the state-of-the-art Digital TVM5 peoplemeters. Commenting on this, Tam Media Research VP Pradeep Hejmadi says, “The Elite Panel comprises of homes receiving channels through a mix of Analogue cable, Digital set top box (Cas) and Direct –to-Home (DTH) platforms, making this the first technology-hybrid, platform neutral TV study.”

    Tam adds that across the globe, all Elite consumer media studies are recall based survey measurements. Very few attempts have been made to measure this exclusive set of consumers through a continuous panel based method. Tam says that its Elite Panel is world’s first such study to understand Elite consumers’ TV viewing habits.

  • English entertainment channel ad revenue could rise by 25-30% should Tam introduce Elite Panel

    The lack of adequate measurement of SEC A! That is seen among media buyers as a big stumbling block for ad revenue growth in the niche English entertainment genre.This article analyses how media buyers view the genre (movies, infotainment and general entertainment) and the possibilities for more growth

    At the outset it is worth noting that the ad pie for the English entertainment genre is around Rs 2.2 billion. This represents a five to seven per cent growth from last year. Overall, growth is expected to be around eight per cent in the coming couple of years. If however Tam does introduce the elite panel these channels might see a growth of as high as 25-30 per cent.

    What will drive these numbers? According to OMS regional director Madan Mohapatra one will then be able to see more numbers among SEC A. It will thus make it easier to justify ad spends to clients who might be skeptical. Also, one will be able to slice and dice SEC A itself in different cities. Right now viewership for this genre comes mainly from Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi. The TG mostly is C&S SEC A,B 15+.

    In the overall media plan, the niche English channels get into it to build incremental reach. Also, the affinity that a channel has with a TG that a channel has is also looked at.

    Media planner Rahul Panchal adds that the elite panel will see consolidation happening in the market. This means that not all channels will see a similar increase. Those channels that are able to show better numbers will be in a better negotiating position. Revenue will shift from one channel to its competitor. Now though, everything is a matter of perception. There is a clear segmentation of genre among the media community. This means that a Star Movies will not compete with a Zee Café. This situation will not change.

    Top 10 Advertisers in English Movie channels
    HLL
    L‘Oreal
    Pepsi
    Coca Cola
    Nestle
    Nokia
    Samsung
    Brooke Bond
    Tata Motors
    Paras Pharmaceuticals

    How the different channels are perceived: HBO and Star Movies are more or less on an even keel. The English film genre takes out around 50 per cent of the earlier mentioned Rs 2.2 billion pie. Depending on previous experience a client‘s view will favour one or the other.

    The reason why English movie channels fare better is that they are seen to be more mass compared to the infotainment and English general entertainment genres. They also offer better reach. One advantage that Star Movies and HBO have is that there are not many choices in this genre. Zee Studio is still confronting distribution issues while Pix, which recently commenced airing, has not gone to the media market as yet with this new offering. In fact planners feel that Pix should mature a bit before it can consider itself a serious player. Therefore there is less price elasticity happening in the English film genre.


    Properties like The Lord Of The Rings have helped boost HBO‘s library

    In terms of spot rates, on a comparison scale if English film channels charge Rs 100 for 10 seconds then general entertainment and infotainment charge Rs 50-60. As had been reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, HBO has hiked its rates by 25 per cent.

    Information available with Indiantelevision.com indicates that this was possible because HBO‘s ad rates were much lower than Star Movies. When HBO moved to Turner last year the existing contracts that clients had thanks to deals negotiated by the One Alliance were cancelled. When deals were renegotiated sometime in June 2005 rates were reduced by seven to eight per cent. So the increase that HBO is now looking for is effectively around 16 per cent compared to what it was when it was with the One Alliance. Post the increase, HBO‘s effect rate per 10 seconds will stand at around Rs 85, still lower though than Star Movies price of Rs 100.


    The Oscars are high impact property for Star Movies

    As already pointed out, HBO and Star Movies are at an advantage here due to there not being many choices available. Of course, it is also true that English movie channels also need to charge more as their acquisition costs are higher and they have operated on a higher bargaining level for a longer period of time, opine industry observers.

    Star Movies‘ cause has been helped by high profile properties like the Oscar Awards. HBO, industry observers though note, has improved the quality of its library.

    For the third player Zee Studio, the biggest hurdle continues to lie in its distribution. This does not mean that cable operators are not carrying it. It is just that the band placement is poor and so too by extension the reception. The number of viewers, therefore, who are able to sample its properties like a few foreign films that one normally catches at film festivals are fewer. Not surprinsgly its rates are around 45 per cent less than what Star Movies charges.

    Top 10 Advertisers in English General Entertainment channels
    HLL
    L‘Oreal
    Coca Cola
    Nestle
    Nokia
    Pepsi
    Brooke Bond Lipton
    Titan Industries
    Tata Motors
    Ponds

    The English general entertainment segment takes out around 30 per cent of the Rs 2.2 billion ad pie. Star World is still seen as having a more upmarket image compared to Zee Café. Its rates are also around 30 per cent more. Panchal though was appreciative of Zee Café‘s efforts like its new look and feel which was done to make it appear more youthful. The fact though is that Star World is at an advantage because it, of the three channels (including AXN), has done the most to improve the variety of content it offers.


    Shows like Desperate Housewives make Star World attractive for advertisers targetting women

    This means that there will always be a trial audience for new shows which offers good visibility for advertisers. Star World is also unique in that of all the channels in the niche English entertainment space it is the only channel besides Zoom which is seen as having a few shows that will mainly appeal to women.

    A case in point is Desperate Housewives. Of course that is not say that women do not tune in to the other English channels as well. It is just that if you look at the programming skew it is slightly more towards men points out Panchal. So advertisers on the niche English channels usually target the male first.


    Local shows like Simply Style have Zee Cafe differentiate itself

    While Zee Café‘s local initiatives work both as a differentiator and a revenue generator Panchal feels that the channel needs to bear in mind the cost factor. Local shows help build a stronger identity for any channel. Of course, it is easier for Zee TV to do local stuff as its revenues are that much more. Both Zee Café and Star World are used in some measure to target the upwardly mobile youth. So its TG would mainly be 15-45. For AXN though, the perception is that men 25+ comprise its main audience. Here the reality shows like Fear Factor are perceived as being a strong draw.

    On the infotainment front, while Discovery was at one time much ahead, that gap has come down to some extent as NGC did a lot of things. Its Think Again repositioning last year helped in this regard. Discovery‘s rates though are still higher to go with their better viewership. It also started selling Animal Planet separately from last year.


    TV films like Hitler are key in history Channel‘s repositioning

    One channel that has improved perception wise is The History Channel. Observers note that previously it was a touch monotonous. However in April it shifted its positioning to being an entertainment channel. Products like Hitler, Nero mean that it can show quality films, series while sticking to its basic positioning of history. The opinion is that in the near future it could go ahead of NGC in terms of the cost of spot rates. In the near future it can also position itself as an alternative to the likes of Star World for ad revenue. October should be a good period to see the progress made since the revamp.

    Not much fluctuation: Planners feel that the English entertainment channels are not as badly affected by events like cricket to the extent that mass channels are. That gives them confidence to put money on them even during October – November 2006 when the ICC tourney is on. If a person wants to see an English film he will more likely do so compared to a Hindi soap when the Indian cricket side is playing.

    Another trend in this genre is that while the share of the English genre in the overall landscape has gone down, their ad revenue has gone up. Clients like Nokia have stayed loyal.


    MythBusters on Discovery. The channel has managed to keep itself in front of archrival NGC

    It may be that a client will shift from one channel to another. However, the number of clients available for English channels will never go down. Clients are also encouraged by the fact that appointment viewing generally is increasing. However, there is still room for improvement in this area.

    In terms of the yield per unit, the infotainment channels fare worse than movie and English general entertainment, say observers. Be that as it may, the quality of the audience is the USP of niche english entertainment channels. A Star Plus may give reach but quite a few of those viewers might not be relevant for example to an advertiser selling an expensive PDA phone. On the niche English entertainment genre there is a certain amount of passion involved and around 80 per cent of those viewers are likely to buy high end products. There is therefore a high amount of relevance translating into a good quality rating point.

    The more expensive a product is, the more likely a client will be to choose a niche English channel. Also, the fact is that while these channels may not contribute much revenue to the network kitty, they help augment the mother brand. They help the broadcaster offer a complete solution to clients, which is why Sony launched Pix after HBO moved to Turner.

    Top 10 advertisers in infotainment channels
    Nokia
    Coca Cola
    Pepsi
    HLL
    L‘Oreal
    Tata Motors
    Parle
    Lenovo
    Motorola
    Paras Pharmaceuticals

    A stronger focus: Media buyers also feel that the niche English channel sellers are more evolved and mature. There is a better focus on how their property fits in with a client‘s needs. This is imperative as these channels are selling an intangible space. They also do not have the ratings.

    So a certain amount of street smartness is key, especially when one considers the fact that clients and channels have opposite goals. The channel wants to get as much revenue as possible while the buyer wants the best (though not always the cheapest) price. The infotainment channels are clearly at a disadvantage in terms of revenue potential. There are six of them (three from the Discovery stable, two from Nat Geo and Zoom) fighting for 20 per cent of the Rs 2.2 billion pie.

    Revenues the channels will get going forward rest on four factors – how seriously they take their content, how well they time the launch of new shows and initiatives to get the most impact (it is not just a matter of quantity), how competitive the rates being offered are and how well they are promoted at both a client and consumer level.

    If a channel is not perceived to be as good as its competition then it needs to offer more customised packages. A case in point is what Zee Café did with Asian Paints on the sitcom Friends. A Friends makeover was done to emphasise the fact that red is the colour of love and friendship. Since Star World is perceived to be better in the market it does not have to go that extra mile if it chooses not to.

    It is also worth pointing out that a niche channel focusses more on chasing those clients who spend a lot of money on this genre rather than merely trying to increase the number of clients. That is because if the number of clients increase beyond a certain point they run the risk of spreading themselves too thin. So while a Sony will have around 230 clients, a niche channel will have far fewer clients, often by choice.

    At the end of the day skill and the level of negotiation are what count. Therefore, the head of the ad sales team is a crucial pivot. His/her attitude and strategy dictates to a large degree the performance and how successful a channel is in meeting targets. Zee Café and Zee Studio have benefitted from recently getting a separate sales team. Panchal notes that the need for sales people with strong persuasion skills is why there is so much poaching happening.

    Buying for the English channels is a mix of round on daypart (RODP) and key properties. However, most of them insist on a client not just paying a premium for a key property but also on increasing their outlay on the channel. Competition for ad revenue among niche English channels, Mohapatra notes, is at both a genre level and a channel level. However, usually the client first chooses the genre and then looks at the channel.

    There are times though when channels from different segments reflect the same values. For instance, AXN has a good duplication with the infotainment audience as it is aspirational. So now if a brand does not have Discovery or NGC in its plan then AXN can add value by giving incremental reach. On the other hand, if one advertises on Star World it does not necessarily mean that one can ignore AXN as the TG is different though they are in the same genre.

    Conclusion: In the months to come, this genre will see competition growing more fierce. It will get a boost should Tam introduce an Elite Panel. At the same time, better strategising both on air and on ground will be key.